Origami - The art of Paper Folding - Number One
WRITTEN IN THE ORDER: CHRIS, IRENE, KATE, KAT, SARAH, MAYA, BREE, GEORDIE
Darren lay on the grass gazing at the stars. The night was clear and the remote location made the Milky Way clear. Just as he was beginning to fall asleep, Courtney called out, "Hey Darren, we're ready to go."
He jumped up and immediately felt the heat of the tarmac. His Learjet 45 was ready to fly, so he ran over and got on.
"We're going to Tokyo, Dazz, right?" Courtney said.
"Yeah, you bet we are," he replied, and suddenly remembered, "Hey, did you call Matt?"
"Oh, no, I'll call him now," she said as she grabbed her phone. She dialled his number, 1900AMIHOT and waited. With no answer she decided to start the plane. Kate, her copilot for the flight, started the engines. They heard a banging on the door and opened it. Bumping his head as it opened, Matt climbed aboard and started talking to Catie, Darren's personal assistant. As he did this, he fell over, perhaps because the plane had started moving, perhaps not. After finding his way to his seat, Matt turned his TV on and started watching the documentary on Sumo wrestling he needed to see before covering it in his newspaper articles.
Darren, the owner/manager of this newspaper, was going to Tokyo for something else, but Matt was coming along after it came up during a chance encounter in the company's library.
Meanwhile in Tokyo...
Lawrence and his younger sister Julia were playing outside their small house just out of the city. They had lived in Japan since they were really young and had become used to their new way of life there. Their father had recently died in a fire at his workplace - which was never fully investigated, and their mother now worked full time, leaving them alone with their babysitter, Sarah.
Unfortunately, Sarah was more interested in gossiping on the phone than actually watching the kids. None of them had noticed the strange white van that had been parked opposite the house all day, or the short, bald man watching with interest as the children ran about. The man had actually been sitting there for hours, silently photographing the children and jotting down notes in a notebook. His silence was interrupted by the phone ringing. "Hello - Darren?.... Oh good, you've finally arrived. I've got some pictures and I know you'll be interested to see them... I'll meet you for lunch tomorrow at the hotel?... good, and come alone." The man hung up the phone and scratched his head absentmindedly. He took one last look at Lawrence and Julia before starting up the van and driving off. But it wouldn't be the last time he'd see them...
***
Catie sat in the hotel foyer, sipping from a bottle of mineral water. They had arrived earlier that afternoon - Kate, Courtney, Darren, Matt and herself - and had retired to their respective rooms. Catie now waited for the others to come and join her for dinner.
Catie checked her watch, and then absently scanned the room. Hotel employees bustled around her. On one of the far couches, a young couple talked energetically. Catie reached down with one hand and felt at the side of her right boot. Her fingers touched the cool metallic surface of her throwing spoon. Reassured, Catie moved her hand back to the couch arm. She heard a movement behind her, and turned to greet the newspaper's newest pilot, Kate.
"Where are the others?" Kate quizzed her, rubbing a hand across her sleepy eyes. Catie gave her a shrug.
***
At the front of the hotel, Courtney stood and scanned the streets. She felt energetic - a sense of exhilaration that she always got after flying.
"Excuse me?" a voice said to her.
Courtney looked around and finally saw a small girl standing next to her.
"Hi," the young woman continued, "I couldn't help noticing your badge. You work for 'The Explorer', right?"
Courtney nodded.
"After a story?"
***
Darren banged on Matt's door.
"Get a move on!"
Matt finally threw open the door, and the two of them moved downstairs. In the foyer, Kate and Catie were waiting.
"That's it!" Catie announced, rising, "Courtney can catch up." She took off before the others had a chance to argue. Emerging onto the street however, Catie saw Courtney, and moved over to talk to her.
"Hey," Courtney cried, "Darren, meet Bree - does she have a story for you!!"
***
As the newspaper group left the hotel the couple on the couch watched them.
"Did you see?" the woman asked eagerly. "Yes," he replied, "Shall we follow?"
"Eh..." she shrugged, "It's hot."
"It always is. Come on, how are we going to get rich unless we follow?"
"Oh, okay Chris. Honestly, you're such a busybody."
Objecting strenuously, Chris followed Irene out of the hotel.
***
Courtney burped delicately and rinsed her fingers in the finger bowl. The oven-baked crabs with honey-mustard had been delicious, but were always so messy. She surveyed the table, her eyes lingering on Darren, who was still deep in conversation with Bree. She speculated as to what he was talking about; it hadn't taken that long for Bree to tell her the story. Courtney turned to Catie, and asked her how she had enjoyed the flight, but Catie was watching a couple, who were having dinner two tables away.
Courtney watched in silence for a while, then kicked Catie in the ankle.
"Ow!" Catie yelled, "I sprained that 2 days ago!"
"Sorry", apologised Courtney, "I just wondered why you were staring at that couple."
"They're following me," Catie whispered, "I saw them in the hotel before, and now they're here."
"Oh, sure", scoffed Courtney, "Why would they be following you? You're a nobody, it's just a coincidence. There's not a person at this table worth following... Except maybe Bree..."
Courtney and Catie simultaneously turned their eyes onto the stranger, who was still talking intently to Darren.
"Meet me in my room later," murmured Courtney, "We have to talk about this..."
***
Maya finished fastening the raincoat and pulled the rubber gloves into her slim hands.
There: she was covered from head to foot in plastic - the water couldn't touch her now!
As a 69-year-old woman with a phobia of water, Maya found it difficult living day to day life. It took her 10 minutes every day to walk-up the courage to wash the dishes, she had to put food colouring in water to drink it as that clear colouring disgusted her and the idea of a beach terrified the poor woman!
But now as she double-checked that every strand of hair was covered, Maya was about to overcome her fear and step out into the water-loving world.
For Maya now had a purpose, a goal - to take revenge. She would finally pay back Matt Coulson for the damaging story he had written those couple of years ago.
***
Meanwhile, back at Lawrence and Julia's house, their mother Lauren got home. She grabbed her bag and ran inside, tired out from her day at the origami-paper-making-factory. Sarah hobbled up to greet her, her fake plastic leg had fallen off in the heat. Sarah, you see, had only one leg.
"Hold on, Lauren, I'll help you with that!" Sarah cried.
"No, dear, you stay there, Lawrence, get Sarah's leg, please," Lauren said.
Lawrence reluctantly grabbed the white plastic leg from the floor, where it had fallen, and handed it to Sarah, who had collapsed onto the couch, exhausted from her hopping. Out of breath, she puffed,
"How... was.. your day?"
"Not bad... we got in some lovely yellow paper today. How have the terrors been?"
Just then, Julia ran screaming in, "Mummy, Lawrence bit me!"
2 year old Julia held out her arm, which was covered in blood.
This brought Sarah back to the time when she was shipwrecked on a deserted island. She had been a sailor girl in her younger days, her captain being Captain Geordie. Unfortunately, it crashed and she ended up on an island by herself. Due to the lack of food, she had to eat her right leg.
She shuddered as she tried to forget it.
"Anyway Lauren, I must be off home. Rod, Bree and Faj must be getting worried," Sarah said, and hobbled off home to her roommates.
***
"Hello? Rod? Faj? Bree? Anyone home?" Sarah yelled. A note on the fridge caught her attention:
"GONE DRINKING. BACK SOON. LOVE FAJ & ROD"
Just then, Bree came out of her room, hiding something behind her back. "What's that?" Sarah said. It sort of looked like a bald wig. "Is that... a bald wig?"
"Uh, as a matter of fact - it is!" Bree said, "I have a.. um... party tonight."
Bree then left the building. She rounded the corner and went into the alley and out of the shadows stepped a tall, dark and menacing character. It was Maya!
"Hello," said Maya, "I have been waiting for you."
"I know," said Bree. They then proceeded to dance in the street, the rain pounding down and washing over their hot, sweaty bodies. Maya had overcome her fear.
Suddenly, headlights shone and a car sped towards them. It screeched to a halt and Sarah jumped out of the car, "Bree, what are you doing and who the hell is that?" Bree grabbed Maya's hand and they ran off into the night, leaving Sarah standing in the alley - soaked and bewildered.
Sarah then got back into the car and went to her employer's house, too fazed to go back home. She knocked on Lauren's door, but there was no answer. She must've been standing there for 15 minutes, and she turned to leave when the door suddenly opened - there stood Lawrence - "Mummy's busy," he said. Sarah walked in and heard noises coming from the bedroom. She strode across the room and opened the door - there was Chris and Lauren in bed!!
***
In the mean time, back in the office of Darren...
"What? She didn't turn up? You better find her, Coulson, or you'll wish that you'd born. Call me back when you have something!" The sounds of a handset banging onto the telephone echoed across the room.
The next day, Matt cruised the streets of Tokyo, trying to locate the whereabouts of Bree. Along the way, he ran into Courtney and Kate, who were making use of their free time browsing the many and varied shops in Tokyo's back streets. Matt joined them for coffee, and he brought up what was troubling his mind.
"Sorry Matt," said Kate, "Our only encounters with that Bree person is when she told us that she has a story for the boss. After introducing her to Darren, we haven't talked to her ever since. I wouldn't worry too much though. It's not as if she can just apparate into thin air. Just wait a few days and she's bound to turn up."
"Yeah," added Courtney, "Take it easy. Don't stress over it. By the way, there's this origami store a few streets away from here. You should go check it out. I think you'll find it interesting."
Despite their words, Matt could not stop picturing his boss's angry face if he was to not find anything in the next few days. So after leaving the ladies to their shopping, Matt continued frantically in his search, but to no avail. Tired and frustrated, he returned to his office. But when he opened the door of his office, his pulse quickened as he saw a ghostly figure looming in the shadow near his desk.
It was Maya.
"Hello," said Maya, "I have been waiting for you."
"What...what are you?" Matt stammered, rather taken aback by the plastic coated thing that hovered before him dripping water all over his office floor.
"What am I," Maya echoed, "I think 'Why am I here?' would be a more pertinent question for you to be asking, Matt Coulson."
"Oh," Matt replied, blinking vacantly.
"And I won't hold you in suspense any longer," Maya continued. "I'm here to pay you back for making me like this, for turning me into this abhorrent thing that has no life to speak of and nothing to look forward to apart from bittersweet revenge." And at that Maya picked up the nearest solid object (it happened to be the video of the TV documentary on Sumo wrestling) and clubbed Matt with it, striking vicious blows to each side of his head. Matt soon fell unconscious into a pool of rainwater that had run off from Maya's plastic outfit and mingled with Matt's own blood. He soon, sadly, drowned. Maya, strangely calmed by her outburst, left Matt's office to return to her house. She was safe in the knowledge that Matt would never trouble her again and (for that matter) neither would the police as she had left no identifiable traces of her presence - being entirely covered in translucent plastic did have its advantages after all.
***
Bree, short, bald, phototaking Bree, totally oblivious to the disturbance she had caused by not showing up, had been busy taking more photos of Lawrence, Julia, Lauren and Chris. She had even captured the moment when Sarah barged in on Chris and Lauren. Unfortunately it was at this time that Bree's disguise as a short bald man became intolerable as the bald wig had made her too hot and it had resulted in her scalp developing and itchy red rash. Bree had all the pictures Darren needed so she decided to leave the family alone and headed off towards Maya's house to get the film processed. That crazy old lady, Maya, was the fastest and most discreet film developer in Tokyo and she even hand delivered the finished product. Bree had been surprised that Maya had bothered to deliver in the rain but didn't ponder that for very long as she thought Maya was just stark raving mad and therefore not worth understanding. Bree arrived at Maya's house just as Maya herself did.
TO BE CONTINUED...